NOT CONGRESS FOR DELAY IN GRANT OF EMERGENCY POWERS TO PNOY

NOT CONGRESS FOR ‘DELAY’ IN GRANT OF EMERGENCY POWERS TO PNOY• October 13, 2014• Written by Ryan Ponce Pacpaco• Published in Top StoriesHOUSE independent bloc leader and Leyte (1st District) Rep. Ferdinand Martin “FM” G. Romualdez yesterday said the Department of Energy (DOE) and not Congress should take the blame in case of a delayed granting of emergency powers to President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, adding that the DOE purportedly failed to provide convincing details on the necessity of giving such authority to the Chief Executive. Romualdez said Congress leaders are confused with the figures on the looming power shortfall in the summer of 2015.He added that numbers started from a 300 to 600 megawatts (MG) shortfall and reportedly reached to 800 to 1,200 MG in case of a worst El Niño phenomenon case.“It would be unfair for us to take the blame should emergency powers not be granted immediately. It is both incorrect and unfair to heap singular blame on us because it is the DOE which failed to convince even the trusted allies of the President. There should be harmony in figures,” Romualdez stressed after President Aquino claimed that lawmakers will be blamed because of the seeming delay in the grant of emergency powers to him.Romualdez reiterated his call for the House committee on energy to conduct public hearings for Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla to justify the need for Congress to grant emergency powers.